{"id":36399,"date":"2023-01-09T19:28:06","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T02:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boeberts-backers-urge-her-to-tone-down-the-nasty-rhetoric\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:31:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:31:03","slug":"boeberts-backers-urge-her-to-tone-down-the-nasty-rhetoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boeberts-backers-urge-her-to-tone-down-the-nasty-rhetoric\/","title":{"rendered":"Boebert’s backers urge her to ‘tone down the nasty rhetoric’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., walks in the House chamber as the House meets for a second day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo\/Andrew Harnik)<\/span>Andrew Harnik<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

RIFLE \u2013 Debbie Hartman voted for Lauren Boebert<\/a> for Congress in 2020 and again in 2022, delighted by Boebert\u2019s unequivocal defense of cultural issues that animate the Republican Party\u2019s far right flank. But as Hartman shopped recently at a supermarket in this Rocky Mountain ranching outpost, she had one piece of advice for the Colorado lawmaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cTone down the nasty rhetoric on occasion and just stick with the point at hand,\u201d said Hartman, 65, a veterinary tech assistant.<\/p>\n

That sentiment reflects Boebert\u2019s challenge as she begins her second term in the House. In her relatively short time in Washington, she has built a national profile with a combative style embracing everything from gun ownership to apocalyptic religious rhetoric. Constituents such as Hartman in the Republican-leaning 3rd Congressional District laud Boebert for defending their rights, but cringe at her provocations, contributing to an unexpectedly tight race<\/a> last year that she won by just 546 votes out of more than 300,000 cast.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe tapped into what Trump was doing, and she maybe took it too far in some instances,\u201d said Alex Mason, 27, adding that Boebert, whom he supports, is still more tactful than former President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Boebert said \u201cthis slim victory, it opened my eyes to another chance to do everything that I\u2019ve been promising to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the congresswoman, that means being \u201cmore focused on delivering the policies I ran on than owning the left,\u201d adding she hoped \u201cto bring the temperature down, to bring unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

For much of past week, however, the temperature on Capitol Hill was only rising. Boebert was a leading voice among a group of lawmakers who refused to support Rep. Kevin McCarthy\u2019s bid to become House speaker, a historic revolt<\/a> against a party leader. McCarthy finally won<\/a> the gavel early Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Some of Boebert\u2019s toughest words are increasingly aimed at fellow Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a> of Georgia, another controversial<\/a> Trump acolyte who was one of McCarthy\u2019s most prominent conservative supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been asked to explain MTG\u2019s beliefs on Jewish space lasers, on why she showed up to a white supremacist conference. \u2026 I\u2019m just not going to go there,\u201d Boebert said over the phone as she rode in a car winding through the high canyons near her hometown of Silt before the speakership vote. \u201cShe wants to say all these things and seem unhinged on Twitter, so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boebert, 36, insisted that while she may try to pick fewer fights with the left, she\u2019s not going to become a different person even after barely beating an opponent, Democrat Adam Frisch, who had targeted what he called Boebert\u2019s \u201cangertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of those on the left have said: \u2018Look at your election, are you going to tone it down, little girl?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m still going to be me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The slim margin has stirred discussion about whether she might be vulnerable in another race next year, with Frisch saying he has received encouragement from lawmakers in Washington to run again.<\/p>\n

But, she said, she\u2019s thinking more about what it\u2019s like to be a member of the majority party.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the minority, all I had was my voice, the only thing I could do was be loud about the things I\u2019m passionate about,\u201d she said. Now, \u201cWe have to lead right now, we have to show Americans that we deserve to be in the majority.\u201d<\/p>\n

People in Boebert\u2019s district, which runs from the ruddy red mesas in Grand Junction that stand sentry over rugged, high-desert terrain to the coal mining hamlets nestled in the Rockies, say the landscape promotes a kind of frontier libertarianism. To many voters, Boebert became a standard-bearer for a rural way of life and values that they feel are being both persecuted and forgotten.<\/p>\n

Larry Clark, who spent 50 years tending to his family\u2019s 160-acre ranch before his relatives sought cash for the land, points to one example. Many more liberal city-dwellers east of the Rockies voted to reintroduce wolves to the Western Slope, where the predators\u2019 prey includes livestock that drives the local economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t understand what rural life is like,\u201d said Clark, who only had encouraging words for Boebert, a staunch opponent of reintroduction. \u201cSend the wolves to Boulder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if they\u2019ve grown wary of her excesses, many of Boebert\u2019s supporters say she\u2019s amplified their concerns nationally and served as an antidote to progressive Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.<\/p>\n

Raleigh Snyder, a retired aircraft mechanic in Grand Junction, said Boebert was America\u2019s only chance against \u201cendemic corruption\u201d in Washington. Still, he said \u201cshe\u2019s probably going to have to learn to temper her approach, but don\u2019t change her goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside Rifle\u2019s City Market, Maryann Tonder said she doesn\u2019t want Boebert \u201ceven to feel that she has to compromise principles to get stuff done.\u201d But, she added, \u201cyou can do it in a way that is not over the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Boebert supporter in Rifle, Julie Ottman, who was pushing a cart out of City Market, said, \u201csometimes you got to give a little bit in order to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

But others are pressing Boebert to stand firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want her to bow,\u201d said Mike Gush, 64, a coal miner from the small town of Craig. \u201cI would stop supporting her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bales
Bales of hay sit on the bed of a pickup truck outside a supply store on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, in Grand Junction, Colo. (AP Photo\/Jesse Bedayn)<\/span>Jesse Bedayn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., walks to the House chamber as the House meets for the third day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana, File)<\/span>Jose Luis Magana<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The city limit sign welcomes visitors on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, in Rifle, Colo. (AP Photo\/Jesse Bedayn)<\/span>Jesse Bedayn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The empty storefront that once housed a restaurant run by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, center, sits between another vacant building and a gun shop on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, in Rifle, Colo. (AP Photo\/Jesse Bedayn)<\/span>Jesse Bedayn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A light covering of snow brightens the open vista on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, near Grand Junction, Colo. (AP Photo\/Jesse Bedayn)<\/span>Jesse Bedayn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., talks with Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., after the 11th round of voting for speaker in the House chamber as the House meets for the third day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Photo\/Andrew Harnik)<\/span>Andrew Harnik<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., walks to the House chamber as the House meets for the third day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)<\/span>Julio Cortez<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Larry
Larry Clark talks outside a supply store on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, in Grand Junction, Colo. (AP Photo\/Jesse Bedayn)<\/span>Jesse Bedayn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Raleigh
Raleigh Snyder gets into a vehicle in this photograph taken Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, in Grand Junction, Colo. (AP Photo\/Jesse Bedayn)<\/span>Jesse Bedayn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

congresswoman\u2019s toughest words are increasingly aimed at fellow Republicans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[981,28,1126,367],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-headlines","tag-politics-general","tag-u-s-rep-lauren-boebert"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83327,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36399\/revisions\/83327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36399"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}